I Want a Do-Over

It was a typical Saturday night in April. Scott had gotten off work at the A&W at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night April 28, 1979. His dad was at work on the midnight shift, and his mom was already in bed. The oldest brother in the family was in his room. He was visiting for a while. Scott had settled in to watch some Three Stooges and unwind after work. It was Saturday night so the choices around midnight were usually the Three Stooges or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. As he sat on the couch, he did not have a care in the world. He had already given his boss the dates he wanted off in the summer for MRF concerts he chose to attend. He was just about to finish up his junior year and was looking forward to a fun last summer as a high school student. He never thought about the fact that the choices he and his brother were making had consequences.
A knock came at the door. His mind worked through the possible scenarios as anyone's often does, never considering the unthinkable. "Who would be knocking at the door at this time of night?" Scott thought. "Maybe it is one of my friends?" He reasoned. "It's probably somebody broken down on the road needing to use the phone." He concluded. Having someone come to the door in need of phone use did occur occasionally. He opened the door and it was an Edwardsville police officer. Scott said in a quizzical tone, "Can I help you?"
"Sir, I am sorry to inform you that your brother has been in a fatal accident." At that moment Scott was hoping he did not know what the word "fatal" meant.
His next anxious and unbelieving question to the officer was, "Is there a chance he will be okay?"
With tears beginning to emerge from the officer's eyes he said, "Son, your brother is dead". Scott absorbed the words as a boxer might take a blow to the jaw; stunned, but still able to stand to finish the round. At that point, his mom had emerged onto the upper part of the steps. His oldest brother was right behind her.
His mom asked, "Scottwho is it?" Scott's first order was to his brother to "hold on to Mom!"
"Mom, Nathan is dead.

Dettagli